With Chilli plants drying out, farmers of Horong Village under Tsakaling Gewog in Monggar are worried they might not be able to have bumper harvest.
Chilli is the third major cash crop in the village next to paddy and maize.
The 60-year-old Tshewang Gyalmo is one among many other farmers, who cultivated Chilli on a large scale.
She planted five bamboo baskets of seedlings a few months ago. However, today, only half of the plantation is growing well.
Tshewang said the harvest was not as expected even last year but she managed to get some returns by vending the crop. But, she is more perturbed that the yield will be worst than last year this forthcoming harvest season.
“I am really worried that this time I won’t be able to sell even a kilogram of chillies. The chilli saplings were growing well a few weeks earlier and today, most are dehydrated and wilting,” shared Tshewang to BBS News.
“The previous year, I earned around Nu 15,000 from the crop. But this time, I don’t think the farming expenditure will be covered from the returns.”
Other farmers in the village are also distressed as chili plants wilt.
“Last year, I harvested around 30kgs of chilies and earned Nu 9,000. But today, I earned around Nu 900 due to poor harvest,” said another chilli farmer, Phangzom.
She adds since the Gewog Agriculture Extension Supervisor doesn’t come to assess the affected fields even after informing, this time she didn’t report the matter to her.
However, the Gewog Agriculture Extension Supervisor, Sonam Dekar clarifies that she has visited the fields and found that the plants have wilted due to climate change.
She further said the issue is not severe, but they are planning to distribute pea and bean seeds to the affected farmers to replace the wilted chili plants.
Record with gewog states that Drengling-Horong Chiwog alone cultivated around 20 acres of chilli this time. Had the harvest been better, it would have good opportunity for the farmers of Horong to earn good cash since a kilogram of Chilli fetch Nu 200-300 in the market.
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